Don't Make Me Do This
by xXEchoedScreamsXx
Summary: Zoey has been called out by The Governor of Woodbury and is taken to the fighting ring. Who does The Governor expect to be her executioner? Someone Zoey has become very close to and never expected in a million years. Merle may be a bit OOC here. Just warning you. Merle/OC


**A/N: So this little one shot came to be through a dream I had about a girl named Zoey and Merle. It was a bit...erm, shall we say...graphic. . Anyways, after my dream, I became obsessed with my pairing. So I wrote a one-shot to get it out of my system. **

**I do NOT own The Walking Dead or any of the characters used in this story except for Zoey. **

**Enjoy and be sure to review~!**

She could smell the torches as they approached the arena. A place she hoped to never land herself. She had seen what the Governor did to people he knew were no longer useful to him. She had been one of the only ones in town to see him for what he really was. There was a harsh, cold, calculating man beneath the kindly exterior. It was a façade. He was borderline psycho from what she could tell.

There was only one thing. What was the use of knowing something, if nobody believed you? Or rather too scared to believe. Even the one who you had been the closest to?

The dark hallway started to get brighter as they neared the clearing. She could hear wild cheering of the crowd as the Governor, better known as Phillip, hyped up the night's "festivities", which was going to be a fight to the death. She felt like she was going to be sick as she silently wondered who her executioner would be. Or whether they were just going to feed her to the Biters.

They had reached the opening that led to the arena and her captors undid her handcuffs and shoved her toward the ring. She stumbled and cursed at the man.

"Here she is folks!" The Governor exclaimed. "Our challenger tonight is our very own Zoey. You see folks, Zoey here has been consulting with that prison group down the way. Givin' up our secrets."

Zoey's eyes grew wide. "That's not true!" She went to lunge at the eye-patched con-artist but strong hands held her back.

The Governor's eyebrows went up and took a step back with his hands up as if surrendering. He smiled with intent to kill and said, "Save that fire for the ring, now, little girl!" Everyone laughed. He had this group in the palm of his hand and he knew it.

She begrudgingly took her corner in the ring, glancing around the surrounding crowd. She saw sweet Milton, ready to take any and all notes he could. He had informed her before that he was writing down anything and everything that took place because, well, somebody had to provide the details when all this was over. Next to him was Andrea looking on in horror. Hell, it was her fault that Woodbury was going to war with the people in the prison in the first place.

Zoey scanned the crowd for the one face that meant the most to her. Her heart ached when she didn't see it. She wondered if he had already jumped ship.

Her attention was brought back to the present situation when the crowd began cheering loudly again. She took a fighting stance when she saw a shadow approaching in the other corner. The Governor began the intro for her opponent. "Here he comes, our reigning champion, the undefeated, Merle Dixon!"

She paled as she looked from the emerging shadow to the Governor. He smiled at her maliciously. She looked back to the opposing corner and there he was, in all his redneck glory. His face was stony as he entered the ring. He didn't even look at her.

She looked at the ground as she was overcome by different emotions. Hurt, betrayal, and confusion being the most prominent ones.

The crowd fell silent. It was no secret that Merle and Zoey were a thing in Woodbury. He had saved her life (whether he had meant to or not) and they were always together, no matter what was going on. Apparently this was going to be no different. Phillip had been looking for something -anything- to use against Zoey… and he had found it. He expected Merle to kill her.

The walls were closed behind the both of them and one sharp 'Ding!' rang out indicating the beginning of the fight.

She couldn't bring herself to move. Her limbs felt like they were filled with lead.

He approached her and shoved her. She looked at him with dead eyes. She wasn't going to cry, though the tears wanted to spill. And she refused to fight him.

He swung at her half heartedly and she blocked it. He got close to her to grapple and whispered so low she almost didn't hear it, "'m sorry…" and threw her down onto the ground where she landed with an grunt and a curse.

"What's 'a matter, SugarTits? Ain't gonna fight ol' Merle?" he said it loudly. "Ya scared?"

She looked at him with eyes full of ice. Slowly, she got back up, never taking her eyes off of him.

She felt her heart breaking with every attempted hit she blocked. She knew he was holding back. He would leave himself wide open when he knew better. She wasn't stupid. She had watched him fight in the arena before. She feared for his safety every time. Not this time, though. No, this time she was going to make the Governor work for what he wanted. He wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of her fighting back.

Merle kept throwing punches and Zoey kept blocking them. He sweep kicked her legs out from underneath her and she landed on her back with the breath knocked out of her. She was gasping to breathe and her vision started swimming.

He sat down astraddle of her hips, something that wasn't a foreign gesture between them. The intent behind it, however, was. She watched him for the first time throughout their fight, bring his knife arm around. He held it to her throat. His bottom lip began quivering, and his eyes moistened with tears. "Fight back!" he spat. "Fight back, god-dammit! FIGHT BACK!" his voice cracked. She looked him straight in his blue eyes, "No…" she struggled to say.

Merle let out a primal growl, one that could only be rivaled by a Biter, and plunged down with his knife.

Zoey squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the pain. The warm pool of blood around her. The darkness that awaited her. When she felt neither, she opened her eyes back up and saw Merle Dixon with tears streaming down his face. Her eyes followed his right shoulder down his arm and into the dirt just inches beside her head, where the knife was stuck. She touched his face gently and enveloped his large torso in a hug.

He buried his face in her shoulder and wrapped good arm around her and held her tight. "I can't," he sobbed. "I can't…" He looked at Phillip and said in a broken voice, "Don't make me do this."

The Governor nodded what looked to be an understanding way. At least it seemed that way until he yelled, "Bring 'em on out!" The crowd roared with excitement.

Both stopped as four men ceremoniously brought out four Biters on dog catcher poles.

Merle's face went white and turned to their tormentor. "You said you weren't gonna bring no Biters into this!" He yelled angrily.

The Governor smiled. "I had a feelin' this would happen, Merle. So I had to have a back up plan." He turned to the audience. "You see, it seems Merle has been in cahoots with Zoey here. His little display has just shown us that."

Merle jumped to his feet, the movement driving the Biters wild with hunger. "No one…NO ONE fuckin' crosses Merle Dixon. You got that, pretty boy? YOU GOT THAT?" he roared.

"Loud 'n' clear. Tell ya what. If, by some chance, you two can survive the Biters, I'll let you leave. If ya don't…well, I don't need to tell you what happens after they get ahold of ya," he chuckled and nodded to the men holding our fate.

They released the snarling corpses.


End file.
